Improvement in the manufacture of tobacco



W. W; HUSE.

i Manufacturing Tobacco.

No; 36,520.. Patented Sept. '23, "1862;

. a I Q Witnesses. I v. f nuezz 07?.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

\VILLIAM W. HUSE, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TOBACCO.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 36,520, dated September 23, 1862.

To aZZ whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM W. Host), of Brooklyn, Kings county, and State of New York, have invented a newv and useful Improvement in the Process of Impregnating Tobacco with a Preparation of Licorice; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the a'ccompanyi ng drawing, making part of this specification.

In the preparation of chewing-tobacco it is the practice to steep it in bunches of a thick mucilaginous liquid preparation of licorice, and after it has been thoroughly impregnated to hang it up for the surplus liquor to drip out. This practice is laborious, consumes much time, requires much room, and in practice the impregnation is not equal, as the viscous nature of the liquid is such that it penetrates to the inside of the bunch with great difficulty.

The object of my invention is to overcome these several defects of the process heretofore practiced; and to this end my said invention consists in subjecting the tobacco, after dipping it in the preparation of licorice, to rolling with elastic rollers, which has the effect of forcing the viscous liquid through and intoall the pores of the tobacco without the necessity of long steeping, while at the same time it discharges all the surplus liquor from the bunch, thereby avoiding the necessity of hanging up the bunches.

The mode of application of my said process, which I have tried with success, is to dip the bunches of tobacco in the licorice solution and then pass them between a pair of rollers, a a, the journals of which are mounted in boxes in the standards b b of a suitable frame. These rollers I prefer to make of what is known as the soft compound of vulcanized india-rubber properly secured to and surrounding wooden rollers c c on metal shafts. The shaft of the lower roller is provided with a fast and loose pulley, d d, to receive a belt from a suitable motor. made adjustable in the usual manner. It is best slightly to open the bunches of tobacco in dipping them in the liquor and in presenting them to the rollers, the better to insure an equal pressure. As the dipped bunches pass between the rollers the viscous liquid is pressed into all thepores of the tobacco and the surplus squeezed out, the elastic nature of the rollers yielding to the unequal thickness of the tobacco stalks and leaves, so that the tobacco is delivered by the rollers on the other side thoroughly impregnated and without any surplus liquor and in a suitable condition to be at once subj ected to the after processes prac-' ticed in the manufacture of chewing-tobacco.

'By the foregoing process I save the time heretofore required to enable the liquor to soak into the tobacco, and the time, labor, and room required for hanging up the tobacco to allow the surplus liquor to drip out, and I secure more uniform and certain results.

\Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, in the process of impregnating tobacco with the preparation of licorice, is

subjecting the vtobacco after it has been dipped in the liquid preparation of licorice to the pressure of elastic rollers, to force the liquor into the tobacco and to discharge the surplus liquor, substantially as described.

WILLIAM WV. HUSE.

.Witnesses:

A. DE LACY,

WM. H. BISHOP.

If desired, the upper roller may be 

